Maharaja gets a Christmas card from passengers: Never again

The napkins and towels of Air India Flight AI 164 that left Frankfurt on the night of December for New Delhi bear evidence to a ‘‘...

The napkins and towels of Air India Flight AI 164 that left Frankfurt on the night of December for New Delhi bear evidence to a ‘‘shame India’’ story with the Maharaja now being charged, yet again, for pulling down the country’s image.

For, what started out as an eight-hour Christmas Eve flight for 300 passengers—90 per cent were foreign tourists, largely European—ended up to be nearly 40 hours. And, no, fog wasn’t Villain No 1.

Flight commander A Kaushal and co-pilot M Gulabani refused to fly even to Mumbai saying their ‘‘duty time’’ had already been stretched by 40 minutes!

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The passengers have recorded their trauma in the form of protests inscribed on napkins, towels and later even in placards at Mumbai Airport. Kidnapped by Air India, Never again to India, and We don’t want to come back are some of the messages quoted in official reports of the incident.

The ordeal began when the plane, scheduled to arrive in New Delhi at 11-30 am on Christmas Eve, had to divert to Ahmedabad because of fog at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The pilot is said to have announced that the onward flight would take off after refuelling in Ahmedabad.

The aircraft landed there a little after noon. It was refuelled but did not take off because the pilots refused to ‘‘exceed their duty time.’’

While the Directorate General of Civil Aviation is particular about pilots not flying beyond their duty time, it has a provision for granting extension in special cases. Sources told The Sunday Express that in this case, the DGCA had communicated the extension well in advance to AI’s London office— which is responsible for the Frankfurt-Delhi flight—given the weather in Delhi.

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With the captain and his crew ‘‘walking off’’ at Ahmedabad, passengers had to wait first in the plane and later in the airport lounge. A fresh crew, officials said, had to be flown in from Mumbai by a Jet Airways flight in the evening.

After a 12-hour wait by which time thick fog had begun to set in at Delhi airport, the plane was flown back to Mumbai at about 7-15 pm.

If this wasn’t enough, 100 of the 300 passengers had to suffer further. Put up at a Mumbai hotel, they were asked to report at 10 am the next day in the hotel lobby. There, the Air India coach arrived one full hour late.

On top of all this, AI 164A flight to Delhi which was supposed to carry these passengers was already booked. So the 100 passengers had to wait till evening before Air India could accommodate them in other flights. Total delay: nearly 40 hours.

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This passenger nightmare dominated the AI board meeting where Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy is said to have asked for a probe.

Air India spokesperson Jeetendra Bhargava confirmed that a probe is on. ‘‘We are aware of the inconvenience caused to the passengers and are inquiring into it,’’ he said. ‘‘In this case, the DGCA is believed to have granted an extension of duty time. The inquiry will ascertain the facts.’’ As of sending an apology note to passengers with New Year greetings, no word from Air India yet.